


background tragedy

by averyblue



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Time Travel, based on dramarama and a prof layton game, meanwhile showho are too busy with kendo to even be in this fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-19 08:24:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14233236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/averyblue/pseuds/averyblue
Summary: Time is ticking, but all he can do is hold Changkyun’s hand.[In which Lee Minhyuk travels back in time and faces the biggest ghost of his past - a living, breathing Im Changkyun.]trailerbyDoctorFatCat





	1. (prologue) time stole you from me in more ways than one

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to write a dramarama mv!changhyuk for the longest time and a videogame that crushed my soul (if you're familiar with the game i'm talking about please don't laugh at me) brought back the motivation 
> 
> this is going to be painful but i hope you guys keep reading?

_November 24, 2017_

 

 

 

> **Kihyun:** hey
> 
> **Kihyun:** you up for dinner later?
> 
> not tonight
> 
> srry
> 
> im visitng gwangju
> 
> **Kihyun:** ah
> 
> **Kihyun:** it’s today
> 
> **Kihyun:** 3 years?
> 
> yea
> 
> do u want me to buy flowers 4 u to give ur friend too?
> 
> **Kihyun:** it’s okay
> 
> **Kihyun:** I just visited last week
> 
> **Kihyun:** take care okay?
> 
>  
> 
> i will
> 
> thanks ki :)

 

* * *

  
Minhyuk weaves the cluster of carnations into a flower crown in alternating hues of pink and white. _It’s beautiful enough_ , he thinks, and he catches a little girl sitting across him gazing at his masterpiece. With a gentle smile graced on his lips, Minhyuk waves at her with his unoccupied hand. The child giggles softly before hiding her face in her mother’s jacket with pink ears peeking from her hair. If only he has extra flowers, Minhyuk won’t hesitate to hand one over or even weave a smaller crown to fit the toddler’s head.

He places the crown he made inside a paper bag before he steps out of the train car. He hopes Changkyun can forgive him for visiting late today.

 

\--

 

“Hey, Changkyunnie,” Minhyuk greets. The cold air wafts by his cheeks as he tugs his jacket closely to his body. Only silence replies, but Minhyuk’s used to it, especially with how late he is.

He takes a deep breath. “Today was pretty busy. I actually thought I won’t be able to visit you tonight. Tons of customers in the morning - d’you know that Traveler’s pretty popular now? I’m glad you supported me in applying there.”

Silence. Minhyuk forces a wider smile.

“Ah, anyway... yeah. Tons of customers, so I wasn’t able to visit the flower shop early. But my masters class got cancelled, so I dashed.” He pauses, glancing at the flower crown in his hands. “I made you this, Changkyunnie! The train ride was long enough for me to finish it.”

Minhyuk takes another deep breath. And another. And another.

Then comes his shaky exhale, and Minhyuk realizes he’s gripping the crown of pastel pink and snowy white carnations too tightly. His eyes catch a glimpse of a single white petal float slowly, carried gently by the air, and fall on gray stone.

Minhyuk chokes back a sob. He fails to hold back the second.

Like the petal, he moves down slowly until his knees touch the damp grass. With what little enthusiasm he has left, he places the flower crown on the grave before he buries his face in his palms.

_I miss you so much, Changkyun._

 

* * *

 

 

_November 24, 2014_

 

 

 

> **Kihyun:** min
> 
> **Kihyun:** min
> 
> **Kihyun:** min where are you??????????????????
> 
> **Kihyun:** MIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
>  
> 
> im in gwangju
> 
> hospital
> 
>  
> 
> **Kihyun:** WHAT
> 
> **Kihyun:** WHAT HAPPENED
> 
> **Kihyun:** AND I THOUGHT YOU’RE JUST SKIPPING CLASS AGAIN
> 
> **Kihyun:** omfg min please talk to me
> 
> **Kihyun:** what happened
> 
> **Kihyun:** is your family okay??????
> 
>  
> 
> did u hear about the explosion in gwangju tech
> 
>  
> 
> **Kihyun:** OK I’M FREAKED OUT IT JUST SHOWED UP IN THE NEWS
> 
> **Kihyun:** is it the one caused by the time travel lab???
> 
> **Kihyun:** wait
> 
> **Kihyun:** didn’t you say your friend worked there???????
> 
> **Kihyun:** minhyuk... please tell me he’s okay...
> 
>  
> 
> i wish ic iuld
> 
> shittt ki
> 
> i cant
> 
> i cabtt stopbcryibg
> 
> cn i cal l yu
> 
>  
> 
> **Kihyun:** i'm here for you, min :(

 

* * *

 

_Loving son, brother, and friend. A prodigy._

 

Sometimes words aren’t enough. And sometimes, they can be too much. Or they can just simply be a slap on the face, especially when written on a gravestone.

“Prodigy,” Minhyuk whispers. The word that has defined and sealed Changkyun’s fate. _Boy from Gwangju, son of a renowned physician-scientist, who tinkered with toys and tangoed with theories - a true prodigy_ , said an internet article in early 2013, when Changkyun was reported to be only 17 and already in college. _Prodigious budding physicist and newest, youngest member of Gwangju Tech Time Research Labs_ , said the Gwangju Tech U campus publication.

(Minhyuk still remembers the day Changkyun sent a picture of that article and how he promised Changkyun he’d treat him with dinner and cuddles for the achievement when he visits from Seoul.)

And then, _Gwangju Tech Time Research Labs robbed of resources and research progress in massive explosion_ , reported in newspapers nationwide. The tragedy failed to mention the life of a prodigy that had been snatched too early from life, the prodigy who had contributed so much.

The prodigy who had been boasted to the world when the world had reasons to acknowledge his shine, but had been hidden and forgotten when his limbs returned lifeless and his ashes spoke silence.

Minhyuk breathes in deeply and out slowly. Changkyun wouldn’t want Minhyuk to feel bitter towards the very thing Changkyun devoted his early years to fascinate over. “Time travel will be the thing of the future, and believe me when I say the future is now,” Changkyun had once said, his dark brown eyes full of stars and his dimpled smile so, so excited and endearing.

God, Minhyuk misses him so dearly.

He bids a soft ‘farewell, I’ll visit again soon’ before standing up and giving the gravestone one last look while fixing his jacket. At a distance, he spots a slim figure by the cemetery tree, and Minhyuk decides he should take a nap while on the train back to Seoul.

He’s so used to his mind playing tricks on him every November 24th, but this is the first time it has decided to project an image of Changkyun’s ghost smiling at him before fading into the night.

 

* * *

 

_November 24, 2014_

 

 

 

> **Changkyunnie:** we might test out the time machine later
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** I just hope they change their mind about me being the guinea pig
> 
>  
> 
> y tho!!!
> 
> wouldn't it be cool if u could be the 1st time traveler? :D
> 
> i mean imagine if u were the very 1st!!!
> 
>  
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** of course it’d be cool!
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** I just
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** idk hyung
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** I made some calculations of my own
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** and I think there’s an important modification in the machine's wiring and structure that needs to be done
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** to make biological molecules more stable when subjected to the machine’s processes?
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** sorry hyung I know this probably sounds like mumbo jumbo to you
> 
>  
> 
> yea kinda lol
> 
> but it’s ok!!! i like knowing what ur doing
> 
> and i kinda get? like ur saying
> 
> u think there’s a way to make the machine safer?
> 
>  
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** yeah, basically that
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** but I’m just an apprentice in this lab
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** I’d show it to them but they might think I’m doubting their research
> 
>  
> 
> um shouldn’t they be more open tho?
> 
> scientists don’t discover stuff by not being doubtful u know
> 
> just try! esp if u think it’s important for ur safety!
> 
>  
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** haha okay :) I will
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** Dr. Yoon is spearheading this project anyway so I shouldn’t worry
> 
> **Changkyunnie:**  he's been researching time travel even before I was born lol
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** thanks, Minhyuk hyung <3
> 
>  
> 
> <3
> 
> ily so much changkyunnie
> 
> mssg me before u travel to the future ok!
> 
> and if u can
> 
> u should visit future me too!!! lololol
> 
>  
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** hahaha I'll try
> 
> **Changkyunnie:**  let's see if we end up in the same place when I land in the future
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** IF I land in the future
> 
>  
> 
> u should have faith in ur project kyunnie
> 
> hoping it's gonna be a success!!!
> 
> can't wait to tell the world my changkyunnie is the very 1st time traveler LOL
> 
>   
> 
> **Changkyunnie:** haha love you too, hyung :)


	2. (part i: present) isn't it funny how the future of the ghost of your past is your present?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And then he thinks. Watch.
> 
> Time.
> 
> Time travel.
> 
> _"Maybe this watch is a time machine or something."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some time travel info and minhyuk's feels
> 
> and this is definitely set during the dramarama mv so :') best recall the video's details? :D also yes i do know they're brothers in the mv (but really at first i thought they were childhood friends...), but they aren't in this fic. so. yes.

**Part I: PRESENT**

_“Isn’t it funny how the future of the ghost of your past is your present?”_

 

* * *

_November 28, 2017_

 

One of the perks of working in Traveler, Minhyuk thinks, is how the aroma of coffee he brews is his quick and cheap fix against drowsiness every day. He lets himself bask in the fragrance as he works, feeling more awake with every roasted batch of beans and every cup served. He doesn’t have to worry about customer shortage either, since Traveler has become the café for a certain niche of corporate workers as well. He realizes it’s pretty smart of the shop owner to know what’s “in” and how his business will hit, considering that Traveler was founded four years ago, during the advent of modern time travel research.

Now, it’s a common sight for Minhyuk to see time travelers drop by daily.

He sings to himself in a hushed voice as he waits for the hot water dispenser to fill a small mug of coffee ordered by a tall customer. Minhyuk knows he isn’t a time traveler - apart from the man’s extremely swanky-looking suit (as travelers usually wear formal clothes but nothing too extravagant), travelers usually materialize at the time travel pad found at the shop’s corner rather than go through the entrance. Honestly, non-travelers are slowly turning into rare sights in the shop these days, but Minhyuk doesn’t complain since customers will always be customers regardless of livelihood. It just baffles him that travelers exploit the luxury of their job just to get coffee instead of waking up early like the rest of the world.

He does wonder how travelers view themselves now, especially with how revered they are by the masses. It’s been a year since time travel has been implemented as a luxury in life. Only people working in laboratories and corporations involved in time travel research can utilize time travel. (It’s why the job market in those companies have become competitive, since many people want in on the experience.) Some say the government wants to open time travel to everyone, but Minhyuk honestly thinks it’s pretty useless. Even with time travel being possible now, technology limits travel within hours of the same day. No one is allowed to go days or years into the future just yet nor do they have the capacity to, since no technology has been developed properly for it.

It’s a precaution, scientists say. _To avoid the tragedy of Gwangju Tech U._

Minhyuk shakes his head. He doesn’t want to get angry this early in the morning.

He preps the plain white cup on a little tray and delivers immediately to the designated customer, who is gazing at the wall. Minhyuk thinks of asking him if he wants a newspaper because the wall is far from interesting, but the customer snaps out of his daze and gives Minhyuk a curt smile. He notices a watch resting at the round table’s side as he moves the mug and plate on the surface. It’s strange because the thing looks expensive, but it also looks heavy and maybe the customer just wants a break from wearing it.

He goes back behind the counter and waits. Soon enough, a traveler materializes at the corner of the shop and orders a sandwich, and Minhyuk returns to his usual duties. Usually, the travelers arrive in packs, but Minhyuk doesn’t want to dive in too much on wondering why.

He serves a cup of latte and a plate of tuna sandwich to the traveler, catching a glimpse of the newspaper the man is reading. “ **TIME TRAVELER SKIPS TOWN!** ” it reads. That alone answers his question. As curious as he is, he can’t make out the fine print even with his 20/20 vision, and he realizes the newspaper is actually a publication reserved for workers in time travel corporations only.

The half hour passes with no other traveler entering the shop. A couple of teenagers dine in, some adults order take outs, and even Kihyun texts that he’ll visit after finishing some paperwork in the pawnshop he works in, but the time travel pad remains untouched. Minhyuk hates to admit that it does bother him.

He only moves out of the counter to clear out a table after the customer in the fancy suit walks out of the shop. To his shock, the heavy-looking watch remains beside the empty mug, and Minhyuk quickly grabs it and trots out of Traveler. He turns left and right, but the man is now out of sight.

After spending half a minute gawking and waiting outside the storefront, Minhyuk shrugs and goes back in the café. The man will probably realize and come back for the watch if it’s truly of value. He’s a hundred percent sure it is anyway as he twirls the watch around to examine it. The watch's leather strap is course yet flexible, seemingly authentic, and the case and knobs of the body glimmer under the light like valuable metal. The year 2017 is etched on small rotating disks that remind Minhyuk of combination locks, which are connected to two navy dials similar to bank safes. A tiny clock ticks at the middle right of the watch, reading 9:36. Minhyuk is right about its weight too, and he can’t imagine wearing something so heavy for long hours.

He can’t deny the handiwork of the watch is impressive. He pockets it and mentally jokes he’ll keep the pretty watch if the customer doesn’t return after a week.

Throughout his entire shift, the owner doesn’t return. Minhyuk leaves it with his co-worker before he rushes to his only class for the day, asking them to take the watch first in case the owner returns. Since Kihyun hasn’t visited like he promised earlier and is also absent in class (Minhyuk texts him ‘ _wru??? not like u to play hooky_ ’), Minhyuk ends up doodling the watch on his notebook from memory because of how boring his Architecture professor is.

When he returns to the coffee shop, Minhyuk’s co-worker shoves the watch back at him and says no one has claimed it. After debating internally whether he should give it to another co-worker that will work until the latest shift, Minhyuk decides to take the watch home instead. Maybe the owner only has time to visit during the morning anyway, so he’ll probably retrieve it tomorrow.

Minhyuk keeps the watch in his hands as he walks to the bus stop, stroking the leather strap with his thumb as he hums another tune. He thinks of Kihyun when he catches himself softly reciting the lyrics of the newest song that’s stuck in Kihyun’s brain, which he contagiously carried onto Minhyuk. He checks his phone again with his other hand but his mailbox remains void of new messages from his best friend.

With a pout, he texts, ‘ _ki r u ok??? txt back pls :(‘_ and tucks his phone back in his pocket. He still doesn’t receive a reply, his bus isn’t going to arrive for another ten minutes, and he’s all alone in the waiting shed with his thoughts.

Today is one of the strangest days he’s had in a while. Even though he finds routine boring, Minhyuk has practically mastered how to live with it. Get up and fix up early, work the morning shift in Traveler, attend afternoon architecture master’s classes, ride the bus home, check online for architecture job openings, sleep. Sometimes he adds in staying with Kihyun on evenings his friend has to work late in the pawnshop, but nothing else really breaks his daily routine.

He only broke it on the third anniversary of… yeah.

_Time travel will be the thing of the future, and believe me when I say the future is now._

Minhyuk sighs. Changkyun wouldn’t want him to cry right now. _Your smile makes me happy, and you want me to be happy, right, hyung?_

He glances at the watch in his hand again. Ironic how a watch, of all things, gets left behind in Traveler, a shop that caters to time travelers of the present day. “Maybe this watch is a time machine or something,” Minhyuk jokes to himself out loud.

Moving the watch closer to his face, Minhyuk gets a closer glimpse of the accessory. The case and clockwork are practically shining underneath the moonlight, hues of navy and silver clock parts aglow. Minhyuk can’t understand why its owner could forget this, let alone abandon it intentionally (if that was the case), when it looks like it costs a fortune to make. It’s a work of art, really, and Minhyuk knows his drawing from earlier can’t match its real beauty as seen through human eyes. Even the watch’s knobs are pretty - bright, silver metal, too tempting to touch.

And Minhyuk caves in his curiosity, pressing the knob at the upper right of the watch case.

Then he feels his body compress by an invisible force, his head spin while memories play in fast forward, his feet touch nothing as though the ground melted from existence. Slowly, the open street shifts in his vision and turns into kaleidoscopic hexagons turning counterclockwise.

The otherworldly sensations leave him instantly, the geometric shapes fading from his view, and finally he can feel his feet standing on a rocky surface. He steps one foot backward to stop himself from losing balance while he tries to adjust from that strange headache and the sunlight.

_Sunlight?_

Minhyuk glances at the watch in his hand. 10:37, the clock hands say, even though Minhyuk is sure it’s supposed to be 8:04.

And he’s not under the bus waiting shed anymore nor under the moonlight either. He blinks and blinks again, but the surroundings don’t change.

The sight of old apartment buildings and abandoned stalls. The smell of playground wood chips and dried paint. The sound of faint honking and rushing cars.

He’s back in his old neighborhood in Gwangju.

Minhyuk can’t even process how, why, what, and he isn’t given time to. He spots three men in front of him meters away - men in suits and sunglasses and scowls - jogging towards him.

He takes a step back as his heart begins to race in panic. “Don’t move!” he hears one of them yell.

And he takes another step back, feeling his back stiffen while his knees wobble. The men are now running, and Minhyuk is too paralyzed with fear to even move while his mind struggles with confusion.

Then all the questions in his head - _where am I what’s happening who are they_ \- merge into one. _What should I do?!_

Suddenly he feels a hand wrap around his wrist and tug him into a narrow passageway between two buildings. He lunges forward and almost trips on his fifth step, but his legs immediately adjust as he allows the adrenaline to take over his senses. The pace of his breathing soon match the pounding tempo in his chest while he maneuvers past scattered garbage bags and steps on flattened cardboard boxes.

Minhyuk tries to keep breathing steadily as he keeps running, even when he feels too overwhelmed with mixed emotions. He’s frightened for being chased and confused for being in Gwangju, and yet nostalgia hits him with thrill for running in the alleyways of his old home, just like he used to do with Changkyun when they were still little.

And then his eyes widen at the realization. The person who grabbed him has the same dyed caramel brown hair Changkyun had. Has the same height with Changkyun. Has the same figure as Changkyun. Has the same little cross earrings he bought for Changkyun’s 18th birthday.

They take a swift turn at the corner of the passageway and the other person lets go of his wrist, running forward in the empty alley without looking back. Minhyuk’s lungs are on fire, his vision now foggy, and his legs give out after fourteen steps forward, making him stumble on stacked Styrofoam containers.

He’s exhausted.

All he wants is to go home and take a breather after a long day, not get short of breath and completely disoriented. He didn’t ask to somehow get flung back into Gwangju, get chased by strange men, and–

No. Changkyun’s gone. There’s no way.

He looks at his hands and only realizes he’s been holding the watch in his hand this entire time. It now reads 10:43; he’s been running for six minutes. No wonder he’s out of breath.

And then he thinks. Watch.

Time.

Time travel.

_"Maybe this watch is a time machine or something."_

“But it’s not possible,” he insists in a whisper. Even if he did travel back in time, things aren’t adding up. Current time travel technology only works in specific places with time travel pads, like the ones installed in the café, and the distance traveled is limited to ten kilometers. But Gwangju is too far from Seoul and there is no way time travel pads are scattered around their old neighborhood.

And if – what if, only if – the boy who saved him from the men really is Changkyun…

It’s unfathomable. The current time travel technology only works for travel within hours, not years.

Footsteps from afar echo and slowly get louder. Minhyuk tries to make out the figure running towards him against the sunlight from the end of the alleyway.

His breath hitches, his head suddenly light and dizzy.

“Minhyuk hyung, we have to hurry,” says the boy’s voice in urgency.

Changkyun’s voice.

Standing in front of him now is a living, breathing Im Changkyun.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me [@tsunkyuns](https://twitter.com/tsunkyuns) and [tumblr](https://limlees.tumblr.com)


End file.
